Judge to rule on pre-trial motions in murder, abuse cases

Wednesday

Jan 23, 2008 at 12:01 AMJan 23, 2008 at 12:14 AM

McKinley Warren Jr., 42, of East Stroudsburg, is charged with causing the death of his 2-year-old daughter in 2000 and physically abusing his 3-year-old son. A county court judge will decide whether to grant or deny Warren's pre-trial motions including a request to suppress certain statements he made to police.

ANDREW SCOTT

STROUDSBURG — Charged with killing his 2-year-old daughter and physically abusing his 3-year-old son, an East Stroudsburg man says he made damning statements to police while intoxicated and wants those statements suppressed from his upcoming trial.

McKinley Warren Jr., 42, also wants charges against him separated into two cases, one for his daughter and the other for his son.

Last we knew: Warren and his wife, Cindy Warren, had sons McKinley III in 1997 and Brandon in 1998. He also had a daughter, Jessica, by Veronica Bock in 1998.

The Warrens had custody of Jessica in December 2000, when she died as a result of injuries found to be consistent with physical abuse. After Jessica died, Monroe County Children And Youth Services placed the Warrens' sons with a foster family.

Children And Youth Services and police interviewed the Warrens, who said Jessica had fallen out of their parked car and hit her head on a curb outside their home. But, the couple gave conflicting details in their story.

McKinley III later indicated to police that his father had caused Jessica's death. But, police had no other witnesses or evidence to charge anyone. The Warrens had their third son, Isaiah, in 2003.

Then, last January, a neighbor reported suspected child abuse of Isaiah. Police responded to the Warren home, discovered a bruised Isaiah and later charged McKinley Warren with aggravated assault.

Finding similar abuse patterns in that case, police also charged him with Jessica Bock's murder.

On Tuesday: Warren appeared before Monroe County Court Judge Margherita Worthington for the second day of a hearing on his request to suppress statements from his upcoming trial and separate the abuse and murder cases.

Police last January conducted a taped interview with Warren about Isaiah's abuse. Warren at the time told them he had "whupped" the boy to discipline him.

Warren on Tuesday testified he drank seven 22-ounce Keystone beers and took more than the prescribed doses of his pain and seizure medication earlier on the day of his interview with police. He said he "was feeling bad about what happened to Isaiah." He said he was "high" and unaware of what he was telling police about Isaiah's condition.

"That's me on the tape, but that's not who I am," he said. "(When intoxicated), I say things I shouldn't be saying."

To rebut Warren's testimony, the prosecution called Stroud Area Regional Police Capt. William Parrish, who interviewed Warren. Parrish said he smelled no odor of alcohol about Warren or detected any visible signs of intoxication during the interview.

Also, according to testimony, police told Warren's attorney at the time, Philip Lauer, that he couldn't sit in on the interview, at which point Lauer left the police station.

What's next: The judge will review prosecution and defense arguments and decide at some point whether to grant or deny Warren's request.